It’s always a good time to talk about the importance of women. So, to celebrate International Women’s Day, we take a look at how women influence marketing and branding worldwide.

You’ve heard it before, the #futureisfemale, and as such, the list of reasons why women should be a priority for all businesses is constantly growing. Here, we bring up three noteworthy truths about why and how women matter when it comes to branding. From building teams, creating products, and devising marketing strategies, women make a massive difference, bottom line.

1. Primary Purchasing Power By 2028, it is expected that the average American woman will earn more than the average American male. Furthermore, women control more than 60% of the personal wealth in the United States, and when it comes down to it, 75% say they are the primary shoppers in their household.

In the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) category, female purchasing power increases year-over-year. Even when it comes to gadgets, women spend as much as men on gadgets. No industry is immune from the strong purchasing power of the gender. This is why it’s so important to consider a woman’s decision-making process and preferences when designing, branding and marketing a product or service. For a business to remain successful, considering women is undoubtedly part of the equation.

In order to be successful at incorporating a female-centric strategy, you should know that the way women buy is different from the way that men do. While men typically consider if the product performs the primary role it promises, women go into secondary considerations and tend to conduct more research, such as learning about a product’s additional features, price and benefits. Women also pay more attention to if a company is invested in a social cause.

2. Not Just Pretty in Pink Many companies have tried to market to women by creating their same line of products in shades of pink. Sometimes, they’ll even take the same product that they market to men and shrink it to create a “female version.” Take a second to think about the message that sends.

When it comes to branding and product design, it should always solve a problem and be created with the user in mind. Women need products that are tailor-made for the intended function, just as men do. That’s why brands should consider several values when positioning their products to women, such as: inclusivity, transparency, relatability, authenticity, commitment, to name a few.

In order to create a successful design strategy, three critical steps exist, which are useful to consider regardless of your target audience, namely:Understand the problem and solution – Why does your product or service exist in the first place? – Who do you wish to serve?Define your product – How will it be used? – What makes it desirable? – What problem does it solve? – Visualize your productBrainstorm ideas – Prove the concept – Get user feedback – Refine and adjust to adapt and improve to better serve your market

The approach of generalizing an entire demographic, as well as slapping on the color pink, is by no means a strategy.

3. Go Straight to the Source Who knows women better than women?

Workplaces have proven to lack equality when it comes to women, whether that is in equal pay or representation. But, the tides are turning towards a business world that represents the larger society. Diverse workforces have been proven to produce better results. According to McKinsey’s report, Why Diversity Matters, “Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 15 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians.”

Within the creative industry, women only made up 11% of creative directors worldwide in 2016. Perhaps more alarming is the fact that 88% young women feel like they are lacking female mentors within the industry. Without having women at the top, the culture of male-domination continues itself. To establish a top-down approach, hiring women in C-suite positions and educating women with the tools to start their own businesses is crucial to sparking change.

A World for Women Throughout history, businesses have approached women in advertising and marketing with changing dialogues and direction. But, women continue to progress towards equality and are creating their own paths within industries, as well as holding their status as primary purchasers. As such, businesses must ensure that they tailor their approach to keep women at the top of their mind from product design and packaging to marketing and branding.